MediateIT@DiameterRouters

Diameter protocol is the future of signaling network. As LTE and VOIP networks grow, the modern telecommunication architectures rely on IP network superseding existing SS7 solutions. The protocol that emerges as modern telecommunication network standard is Diameter.

The Diameter protocol is commonly recommended by standardization committees as the interface of various network elements responsible for almost every aspect of telecommunication network including:

Authentication

Charging

Quality of Service

Location

Voice over LTE

LTE Data

As new telecom world is changing, the signaling traffic analysis reveals that Diameter signaling traffic will reach a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 252% between 2011 and 2016. To put this finding in perspective, Diameter signaling traffic will grow more than three times as fast as mobile data traffic.

This challenge need to be addressed by multiplication of many existing Diameter enabled network elements responsible for handling of the service logic (OCS, PCFR, HSS, GMLC, EIR). As the number of elements grows, the complexity of Diameter network may rise to unacceptable level.

To simplify the network architecture, the Diameter traffic needs to be passed through a new, set of elements – the Diameter Agents (DAs). The Diameter Agents elements are responsible for directing the signaling flows to dedicated specialized network elements. The use of DA allows to simplify the network architecture and to hide its complexity.

MediateIT@DiameterRouters (MediateIT@DRouters)

MediateIT@DiameterRouters is a set of ready to use Diameter Agents. They can work in two modes as “Diameter Proxy” (bypassing signaling messages) and “Diameter Router Agent” (redirecting signaling to appropriate elements).

The MediateIT@DRouters can also distribute the traffic operating in load-balancing mode. If Diameter signaling is connected to session based flows (e.g. data charging) the MediateIT@DRouters can work in stateful mode allowing to keep session related information and to correlate events from different Diameter enabled network elements.

The MediateIT@DRouters can be used as a proxy front-end for groups of following standard NEs:

Home Subscriber Server (HSS)

Policy Control and Resource Function (PCRF)

Online Charging System (OCS) and Offline Charging System (OFCS)

Gateway Mobile Location Centre (GMLC)

Equipment Information Registry (EIR)

MediateIT@DRouters can be used as DA solution for the following Diameter based network services:

Authentication and Authorization (Cx, Sh, S6a, S6d)

Charging (Ro, Rf, Gy, Sy)

QOS (Gx, Rx, S9)

Location (SLh, SLg)

MediateIT@DRouter – addressing Diameter Scalability and Redundancy In order to address the expected Diameter traffic growth

MediateIT@DRouters can be configured as a redundant and scalable solution. In the case of stateful routing, MediateIT@DRouters may use external centralized storage for storing session information or caching subscriber profile data (MySQL, Oracle, Timesten). It may also use another solution from